Malpas: Football knowledge was out of this world
Jim Mclean’s players last night paid tribute to their former boss as a football visionary, decades ahead of his time, writes DANNY STEWART.
Former full-back, Maurice Malpas said: “Psychologists, dieticians, experts in plyometrics – all the people everyone uses now – we had them all at Tannadice way back in the 1980s.
“We would try tactics and set-pieces that no one had ever heard of. Things he had picked up from other parts of the world, and wanted to try out.
“Clubs from all over Europe would send people to see what we were up to because they could not understand how we could be so successful.
“His football knowledge was out of this world.
“You could name practically any team, and he would not only be able to tell you who they were and where they came from, but what formation they played and who the names and positions of their best players.”
Malpas’ view was echoed by Allan Preston, a product of United’s famous youth academy.
“Jim was a football genius, a great innovator light years ahead of his time,” he said. “No one will repeat what he achieved – at United or any comparable club.
“The statue of him being built at Tannadice is well-deserved. It is just a shame he will not be around to see it finished.
“He was a real disciplinarian. I signed as an ‘S’ form in 1983, on the day they won the title, and one of my jobs was to tidy, clean and fold Maurice Malpas’s kit.
“This one week, I got it all done, except the socks which I stuck in the dryer to be taken out later, and headed back to Edinburgh on the Friday.
“Jim heard about it and, having made the point I hadn’t finished my duties, made me come back through to Dundee on the Saturday. I never made that mistake again!”
Malpas, though, makes the point there was another side to Mclean.
“Things weren’t all doom and gloom. We would not all have hung around Tannadice for so many years if it was,” he said.
“He was cute as a button with the wives for instance, because he knew if they were happy, we would be happy.
“They got more nights out than us, and wee Jim also made sure he got their bill taken care of.
“As I say, I always got on fine with him. He would shout at me – and I would shout right back!”